Editing El Cid (section)

==Life and career==

[[File:LeónDeUrraca1109-1126.svg|thumb|right|300px|Northern Iberian Peninsula under the rule of [[Urraca of León and Castile|Urraca, called '''the Reckless''' (''la Temeraria'')]] Queen of [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] and [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]] from 1109 until her death. ]]

===Origins===
El Cid was born Rodrigo Díaz circa 1043 in [[Vivar del Cid|Vivar]],<ref name="ThackerayFindling2012">{{cite book|author=Tim Watts|editor=Frank W. Thackeray |editor2=John E. Findling|title=Events That Formed the Modern World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRl1sWYShpcC&pg=PA19|date= 2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-901-1|page=19}}</ref> also known as Castillona de Bivar, a small town about ten kilometers (or six miles) north of [[Burgos]], the capital of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]]. His father, Diego Laínez, was a [[Noble court|courtier]], [[Bureaucracy|bureaucrat]], and [[cavalry]]man who had fought in several battles. Despite the fact that El Cid's mother's family was aristocratic, in later years, the peasants would consider him one of their own. However, his relatives were not major court officials; documents show that El Cid's paternal grandfather, Laín, confirmed{{vague|date=September 2022}} only five documents of [[Ferdinand I of León and Castile|Ferdinand I]]'s; his maternal grandfather, Rodrigo Álvarez, certified only two of [[Sancho II of León and Castile|Sancho II]]'s; and El Cid's father confirmed only one.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

===Service under Sancho II===
As a young man in 1057, El Cid fought against the Moorish stronghold of [[Taifa of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]], making its [[emir]] [[Ahmad al-Muqtadir|al-Muqtadir]] a vassal of Sancho. In the spring of 1063, El Cid fought in the [[Battle of Graus]], where Ferdinand's half-brother, [[Ramiro I of Aragon]], was laying siege to the Moorish town of Graus, which was fought on Zaragozan lands in the valley of the [[Cinca (Spain)|river Cinca]]. Al-Muqtadir, accompanied by Castilian troops including El Cid, fought against the Aragonese. The party slew Ramiro I, setting the Aragonese army on the run, and emerged victorious. One legend has said that during the conflict, El Cid killed an Aragonese knight in single combat, thereby receiving the honorific title "''Campeador''".<ref>{{Citation |last=Weiss |first=Julian |title='El Cid' (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) |date=2018-12-31 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108672832%23CN-bp-12/type/book_part |work=The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the Crusades |pages=184–199 |editor-last=Bale |editor-first=Anthony |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108672832.013 |isbn=978-1-108-67283-2 |s2cid=165471019 |access-date=2022-11-12}}</ref>

When Ferdinand died, Sancho continued to enlarge his territory, conquering both Christian strongholds and the [[Moorish]] cities of [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]] and [[Badajoz]]. When Sancho learned that Alfonso was planning on overthrowing him in order to gain his territory, Sancho sent Cid to bring Alfonso back so that Sancho could speak to him.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

===Service under Alfonso VI===
[[File:Jura de Santa Gadea.jpg|thumb|Marcos Giráldez de Acosta painting (1864) depicting the "[[Santa Gadea]] Oath". In the middle of the scene, [[Alfonso VI of León and Castile|Alfonso VI]] (with red cape) is swearing with his right hand on the [[Bible]] that he did not take part in the murder of his brother [[Sancho II of Castile|Sancho II]], while El Cid stands as a witness in front of him.]]

Sancho was assassinated in 1072, during a siege of his sister's town of Zamora.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Catlos |first1=Brian |title=Infidel kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, power, and violence in the age of crusade and jihad |date=2015 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |chapter=The Cid Rides Again |page=73}}</ref> Since Sancho died unmarried and childless, all of his power passed to his brother Alfonso who, almost immediately, returned from exile in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and took his seat as king of Castile and León. He was, however, deeply suspected of having been involved in Sancho's murder. According to the 11th century epic poem ''[[Cantar de mio Cid]]'', the Castilian nobility led by El Cid and a dozen "oath-helpers" forced Alfonso to [[oath|swear]] publicly on holy relics multiple times in front of [[Santa Gadea]] ([[Saint Agatha]]) Church in [[Burgos]] that he did not participate in the plot to kill his brother. This is not mentioned in the more reliable 12th century chronicle ''[[Historia Roderici]]'', however. El Cid's position as ''armiger regis'' was taken away and given to his enemy, Count [[García Ordóñez]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Peter Edward |date=2024-04-18 |title=El Cid |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/El-Cid-Castilian-military-leader |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref>

In 1079, El Cid was sent by Alfonso VI to [[Seville]] to the court of [[Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad|al-Mutamid]] to collect the ''[[parias]]'' owed by that ''[[taifa]]'' to León–Castile.<ref name="Chaytor-3">{{Cite book|author=Chaytor, Henry John|year=1933|chapter=Chapter 3: The Reconquest|title=A History of Aragon and Catalonia|location=London|publisher=Methuan|pages=39–40|url=http://libro.uca.edu/chaytor/achistory.htm}}</ref> While he was there Granada, assisted by other Castilian knights, attacked Seville, and El Cid and his forces repulsed the Christian and Grenadine attackers at the [[Battle of Cabra]], in the (probably mistaken) belief that he was defending the king's tributary. During the aftermath of this battle the Muslim troops under El Cid's command would hail him as Sayyidi.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Catlos |first1=Brian |title=Infidel kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, power, and violence in the age of crusade and jihad |date=2015 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |chapter=The Cid Rides Again |page=74}}</ref> Count García Ordóñez and the other Castilian leaders<ref>The ''[[Historia Roderici]]'' says that the other two Castilian leaders were Diego Pérez and Lope Sánchez. {{Cite book|author=de los Rios, José Amador|title=Historia Crítica de la Literatura Española, Tomo III, (II Parte, Subciclo I) (The History and Criticism of Spanish Literature, Volume III (Second Part, subpart I))|publisher=J. Rodriguez|year=1863|location=Madrid, Spain|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ADkLAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA104 104]|language=es|chapter=Capitulo 3: Primeros Monumentos Escritos de la Poesía Castellana (Chapter 3: First-Written Monuments of Castilian Poetry)}}</ref> were taken captive and held for three days before being released.<ref name="Chaytor-3"/>

===Exile===
In the [[Battle of Cabra]] (1079), El Cid rallied his troops and turned the battle into a rout of Emir Abdullah of [[Granada]] and his ally García Ordóñez. This unauthorized expedition into Granada, however, greatly angered Alfonso and May 8, 1080, was the last time El Cid confirmed a document in King Alfonso's court.  The most likely reason was El Cid's incursion into Toledo, which happened to be under the control of Alfonso's vassal, Yahya Al-Qadir.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ángel Ferreiro |first1=Miguel |title="La Conquista De Toledo, Mayo De 1085," |url=https://elretohistorico.com/la-capitulacion-de-toledo-en-mayo-de-1085/. |website=El Reto Histórico |date=25 May 2017 |access-date=15 December 2022}}</ref> Alfonso's anger over El Cid's unsanctioned incursion into his vassal's territory would lead him to exile the knight.<ref>{{cite book |last1=García Fitz |first1=Francisco |title=Relaciones Políticas y Guerra: La Experiencia Castellano-Leonesa Frente Al Islam: Siglos XI–XIII |date=2015 |publisher=Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla |pages=47–48 |isbn=978-8447207084 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3o0CJVLbZKIC&pg=PA47 |access-date=15 December 2022}}</ref>
This is the generally accepted reason for the exile of El Cid, although several others are plausible and indeed may have been contributing factors to the exile: jealous nobles turning Alfonso against El Cid through court intrigue, and Alfonso's own personal animosity towards El Cid. The song of El Cid and subsequent tales state that Alfonso's and his court's animosity toward Rodrigo was the primary reason the expulsion of the knights from León,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inti Fernandez |first1=Yanes |title=The Cross and the Sword: Political Myth-Making, Hegemony, and Intericonicity in the Christianization of the Iberian Peninsula and Britain |date=May 1, 2018 |publisher=OAKTrust |page=138 |url=https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/173380. |access-date=15 December 2022 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> as well as a possible misappropriation of some of the tribute from Seville by El Cid.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

At first he went to [[Barcelona]], where [[Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Berenguer II]] refused his offer of service.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}